Extracurriculars are a core part of the high school experience. They give students a place to express themselves through their interests, grant them access to opportunities, and overall improve their lives by giving them access to a host of new experiences.
However, the mass of extracurriculars comes at a cost. . Many students are already fairly pressed for time, and the strain extracurricular activities add to this is considerable. While students, parents, and teachers may swear by the positives of extracurriculars, how much time do they actually take up?
Mock Trial: A club attempting to simulate a courtroom. They prepare for and participate in competitions, and will spend on average 2-6 hours preparing for competitions by practicing their roles, making cases, and scrimmaging against themselves.
Knots of Love: A club dedicated to crocheting items for cancer patients. ”We make beanies for people going through chemotherapy,” Charlotte Solis said. While the club as a whole only meets once a week for 30 min. during lunch, different club members spend wildly different amounts of time crocheting outside the club.
Friday Night Live: A club attempting to improve the mental health of students. One of their co-presidents, Marisa Sabot, explained that the amount of time that they spend on projects varies wildly throughout the year, but on average, they spend about 1 hour a week working on their various projects throughout the year.
Speech and Debate: A club that practices delivering speeches and debating other people’s positions. They travel to competitions, and with the addition of bi-weekly practice, speech and debate can take anywhere from 4-18 hours a week.
Robotics: A club that makes robots and takes them to competitions in and out of California. The team requires a considerable amount of dedication and has a truly enormous yearly budget, so it’s no wonder that teams spend anywhere from 9 to 18 hours a week preparing for their competitions.
All in all, extracurriculars can be a real drain on people’s time, but students enjoy them and get quite an enriching experience out of them. While they are no doubt a serious time sink, the benefits can be truly incredible for students.
On an interesting note, many clubs that meet after school can end up taking more time than the actual homework they are assigned by their classes. These extracurriculars can end up serving as almost an extra class, one the students get to choose. Still, no one can fault students for wanting to avoid the extra potential strain these clubs and activities can place on one’s life.
